My nephew, Kyle, created this interesting pumpkin as a birthday present to me and represent Halloween 2026
I still can’t believe that Halloween is over. I swear I blinked my eyes on the Forth of July and I am now seeing Christmas decorations. One moment it is sunny and eighty degrees and the next the leaves changed colors early and there was October, which seemed to zoom by. What is funny is that Grace, who I report to in the parade, contacted me in July to see if I was volunteering and that made time go faster.
Arriving in Manhattan to a pop up Halloween store in the subway at 42nd Street
I knew it would be a busy time for me so I glad the goal at work that all my exams and papers would be done and graded for my students so could enjoy the Halloween weekend as well and just relax. It would be full steam ahead for them as well. All the days leading up to the holiday were busy so there were a lot of late nights. I could relax and just be part of the parade on Halloween night.
Don’t be fooled by the holiday. Halloween is the new start to the Christmas holidays and people spend big money on decorations, parties, costumes and entertainment and not just in the City. The suburbs where I live Halloween decorating of homes is huge and for four years I ran our Men’s Association Halloween House Decorating Contest to showcase our residents work.
My blogs on the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association Halloween House Decorating Contest:
This is the tip of the iceberg on my neighbors decorating across the street
My across the street neighbor puts up this evil scarecrow every year
My blog on ‘Giggles’
My video on their scarecrow
My across the street neighbor just loves pointing him in my house’s direction all through Halloween. The funny part is that when you Google “Giggles” the scarecrow, he now has his own byline on the Internet. Funny how things work out!
You really have to tour our town on Halloween Night to really experience the lights and decorations. People really spend a lot on decorations and some homes really decorate to the hilt. This house is decorated right near my bus stop when I return home from the City. You should see it at Christmas time as well.
My neighbors house by the bus stop into the City decorated on Halloween night
The decorations at the bus stop from Manhattan when I returned home on Halloween night
I had to be in Manhattan by 3:00pm to report to my Marshaling duties at Dominick Street in lower Manhattan so I left early for the City and ate lunch in Chinatown before I arrived at the Village. We have lucked out with the weather every year as a warm spirt seems to arrive just before Halloween and it was a beautiful but cool day that got warmer as the sun rose.
https://jinmeidumpling.com/#google_vignette
My TripAdvisor review:
My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:
My first stop was Dumplings (Jin Mei) on Henry Street in Chinatown for their fried dumplings. This place is really catching on as the line was ten deep when I got there and twenty deep when I got to the front of the line. Their dumplings are worth it. Fifteen for $5.00 in this economy make them very popular right now. That and they are really good!
My lunch before the parade. Fried dumplings and a Coke
The Pork and Chive Fried Dumplings are so good
This was the view from the park that I eat at when I am in Chinatown just off Catherine Street
I walked to the parade route from Chinatown and I could see the City was preparing for both the Halloween Parade and the Marathon on Sunday. It was going to be a very busy weekend in the City. There was sidewalk barriers all over Lower Manhattan and the police were being placed for the night’s activities. I also saw lots of people in costume arriving in Chinatown preparing to walk in the parade.
Arriving on Dominick Street where the heart of the parade and puppet rehearsals
Preparing the puppets to start the parade
Dominick Street is where the magic of the parade starts as the puppets that were created in the Hudson Valley studios are assembled and then the puppeteer’s who perform in the parade practice before they head uptown at the beginning of the parade. Most of these puppets you will see later on YouTube at the beginning of the parade.
Lining the puppets up before the volunteers arrive
I was not too sure what this was meant to be but it really was creative
The puppets lined up in a row
These maiden witches have participated in many parades
While I checked in and started my duties for the parade, volunteers and entertainers started to arrive and thus the people started to want to sneak into the parade. This went on all night long as it usually does. Everyone ‘lives in the building in the parade route’ or everyone is ‘going to dinner’ just ‘across the street’ knowing full well the streets are blocked off and it is chaos in the streets behind us.
The puppet volunteers arrived between 4;00pm and 5:00pm to practice
The day turned into night as time zipped by and the frantic behavior of getting inside that parade route went on from 5:00pm to 7:30pm. Trying to get performers and musicians and their friends who do not have passes inside takes a lot of coordinating. We had stragglers still trying to get in at 8:00pm when their floats were long gone.
The park on Sixth Avenue and Dominick Street
We were finally able to shut the street operations at Dominick Street by 8:45pm. The parade had started at 7:00pm and most of the floats had already headed uptown. One woman was crying at 8:00pm that her friends texted her to join their float and she did not have a pass to get in. We told her to go home. These are the things I listen to all night long.
The staging area on Spring Street for all the floats
The staging is where the magic comes to life and one of the most chaotic areas of the parade. I can’t understand why people want to sneak to see it here. It is so busy and the volunteers here have a lot on their hands. Everyone is trying to get all the entertainment organized in the parade and get them uptown all while letting all the costumed people into the parade to fill in around the floats.
Letting the bands into the parade takes a lot of work
The costumed characters entering the parade at Spring Street
This part of the parade route is trying to keep things organized and not a place where the public should be standing around gawking. The whining and complaining I hear every year from these people trying to sneak in thinking that they are going to sit down on some grand stand and watch the beginning of the parade is a pipe dream. There is so much going on to run this parade and there is no place to sit down.
Our favorite coordinator in his annual costume dressed as little pig
Getting the floats ready to travel uptown
The floats on Spring Street heading uptown
I had to do everything from being in everyone’s way to get some pictures in. For people reading this blog on the Halloween Parade, this is NOT the area to best see the parade so stop trying to sneak in. Go four blocks uptown and you will see much more.
The floats kept leaving the Shute to head up Sixth Avenue
The float heading uptown
The crowds heading uptown
The crowds heading uptown
The costumed crowds heading uptown
The crowds and floats heading uptown
The costumes were so creative.
The crowds continued their route uptown
The Balloon women
Skaters making their way uptown
Looking downtown at the last of the floats heading uptown
The costumed characters heading uptown
The costumes were really creative this year
The Central Park skaters heading uptown
The last of the costumed characters heading uptown before I left at the parade route to head uptown for the Volunteers Dinner.
The last float heading uptown at the end of the parade
I walked uptown through the parade up Sixth Avenue and could not believe the crowds that night. People were packed along the parade route. The crowds thinned a bit in the Village as people saw the end of the parade coming.
The crowds in the restaurants all over lower Manhattan were packed with people. There was not one restaurant, bar, fast food place or pizzeria anywhere around the parade that was not busy. Even the neighborhood Walgreens had lines ten deep with people buying snacks and drinks. I think with everything going on from the economy to the wars to politics and justly general life, people were here just wanted to blow off some steam.
As I passed Christopher Street and the Stonewall bar, the birthplace of the Gay Liberation Movement, the place was packed with people both inside and outside the bar restaurant
I saw this painted on the wall as I walked
The decorations on top of the buildings on Christopher Street
The scary skeleton on the side of that building
The witch in one of the display windows off Christopher Street
People all over the Village devoted their homes for the Halloween holiday
I walked the entire way up to da Umberto’s Italian restaurant for our Volunteer dinner and the restaurant was already packed with volunteers who were starved from a long day working the parade. I was glad I had the dumplings earlier that day because I was now ready for dinner. The food here is wonderful and we are always grateful to the sponsors who donate this dinner to us.
Arriving at da Umberto’s at 107 West 17th Street for dinner
My review on TripAdvisor:
The entrance to the restaurant that night
Joining the rest of the volunteers at the parade for dinner
Enjoying the buffet dinner. Here we have the Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary and Olive oil
The staff at da Umberto’s does a nice job and the service here is always so friendly. The food is really good here and I really enjoyed the buffet dinner they provided especially the Chicken Parmesan and the Squash Ravioli.
Here we have the pastas on the buffet line Penne Vodka and Fall squash
My dinner that night
The biscotti for dessert
After dinner was over and a nice conversation over dinner with other volunteers at the table, it was time to head home. Some people were heading for Brooklyn for the big ‘After Party’ at Industrial City. I was exhausted between work, Midterms, yard and housework and laundry, I just wanted to head home.
I walked from 16th Street up Seventh Avenue to Port Authority and I can tell you the City was packed that evening. All the restaurants above 23rd Street were just as mobbed as the ones that surrounded the Village. This was the largest crowd I have seen for the parade since before COVID when it was 72 degrees in 2019. From West 16th Street to West 42nd Street, there was not one eating establishment that did not have a crowd. Even the $1.50 Pizza Slice places had long lines long after the parade was over. The pizzeria in Port Authority, which is never that busy, had a line with people eating before they went home (their food is really quite good).
The lights of Midtown
I walked by Bryant Park and just enjoyed the views. All the lights were on in the buildings surrounding the park. It was just the perfect night to walk around. This is when the City works its true magic.
Looking downtown on Fifth Avenue to the Empire State Building
Looking up at Fifth Avenue
I walked around Bryant Park on the way back to Port Authority. The night lights around the park are dazzling.
The lights in Bryant Park
The lights around the park
The New York Public Library at night
The fountain in the park
The face in the fountain gushing that evening
With mild 60 degree weather and clear starry skies, it was a spectacular night in Manhattan for both the parade and for Halloween. The streets were packed all along the way and even around Port Authority, all the restaurants and bars were packed with people wanting to have a good time. I have never seen the City so busy on Halloween night. People were desperate for a good time and I am sure they had one. It looked like people just wanted to blow off some steam. What a night for the parade!
Happy Halloween! Boo!
Jack o Lantern
